Thank you, thank you, thank you! Let the free market rid itself from the failed investment banks. No tax money should go to save the financial markets—ever.

The Associated Press reports:

The House has defeated the $700 billion bail-out legislation for the financial industry.

More than enough members of the House had cast votes to defeat the Bush administration-pushed bill, but the vote was held open for a while, apparently as efforts were under way to persuade people to change their vote.

On Wall Street, stocks plummeted as investors followed the developments in Congress.

Related 1: Bad news from Britain. (Via Wille Faler.)

Related 2: Bad news from the Low Countries.

Update at 21:28: This interesting graph from the Los Angeles Times gives an idea of the massive size of Bush’s bailout plan.